Karriem Riggins

Supremely creative drummer and beatmaker Karriem Riggins is a rare musician with concurrent jazz and hip-hop résumés that are equally impressive. The Detroit native got his start in jazz with singer Betty Carter and first saw his name in liner notes -- including those for pianist Mulgrew Miller's Getting to Know You -- the year he turned 20. His longstanding partnership with rapper Common began a couple years later and covers a decades-spanning wealth of projects highlighted by albums such as Black America Again and August Greene, the latter of which arrived on the heels of th...